


Number 88

by Jonathan_Kane



Series: Soulmates [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Notfic, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 16:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4752644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonathan_Kane/pseuds/Jonathan_Kane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only clue he has about his soulmate is the number 88.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Number 88

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a gifset: http://toewsloveskane.tumblr.com/post/128057424423/monalisasnmadhatters-jonathan-toews-goals-and

The only clue he has about his soulmate is the number 88. Jonny assumes it must be someone’s hockey number, considering how important the sport is to him. He’s always a bit wary and a bit excited every time he plays with one, but it’s never right. The one time he gets the right feeling is when he’s playing for the Junior Flyers for a summer, but he’s disappointed to see that the kid, Kane, doesn’t wear that number. Pat glances at him a bit, and they play beautiful hockey together, but he never broaches the topic of soulmates so Jonny thinks his feeling is a fluke. Pat does talk for a bit about admiring his hockey when they played against each other the previous year, but no feelings.

He’s ignoring the fact that Pat is born in 1988 - so is he, and so are so many other players he’s met. The birth year probably isn’t the clue.

Still, he admires Pat a lot and keeps tabs on him over the years. They meet again, on opposites sides in the World U17 Hockey Challenge. He gravitates toward Pat and they hang out a bit - _stop fraternizing with the enemy, Toews!_ \- all the while he tries to ignore how much he likes him.

But then - Pat is drafted by the London Knights and goes 88th in the draft. He wears 88 on his sweater now. The next time Jonny sees him, they’re at the World Juniors. Pat is wearing 27, not 88. Jonny has had his own fair share of numbers over the years: 11, 9, 68, 16, 17 and now 29. Even though Pat isn’t wearing the right number, it just feels right being on the ice with him, even on opposite sides. He wishes they were playing on the same team again.

They chat for a bit, and Pat keeps _gazing_ at him, but never mentions having any feelings. Jonny worries sometimes that he’s stuck with an unrequited soul bond. He tries to raise it once, all casual, “So, um, you met your soulmate yet?” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t as casual as he had hoped, but at least it didn’t come out of nowhere. One of the guys at their dinner table had been talking about meeting his soulmate, being all confused about his “Yoshi” clue, and running into this chick with a huge-ass tattoo of the dinosaur on her side.

Honestly, with an opening like that, and the way Jonny can’t keep his eyes off Pat, it must be blatantly obvious that he wants to be his soulmate.

Pat looks all, like, wistful, what even, and lowers his head. “I thought so, but the clue didn’t work out, so…”

“That sucks, bro,” Jonny says, patting his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. And then goes on to kick his ass in the semi-finals.

Jonny feels honoured that Dale Tallon asks his opinion about various players in the 2007 draft class. He stutters to a halt, though, after a couple of minutes of talking when he realizes he’s been gushing about Pat. What if they do draft him, and Jonny’s stuck being around this unrequited bond for the next however many years? In the end, though, it doesn’t matter. Jonny wants to win, wants to play with the best, and - as he continues telling Tallon - he’s never seen hands like Pat Kane has. He’ll figure out a way to deal with his feelings, since Tallon seems pretty high on drafting Kane.

And Pat does get drafted to the Hawks. Jonny’s joining the team this year, not finishing his degree at UND; the organization seems to have big plans, and he wants to help with the revival of hockey in Chicago, this year, with Pat. He has to choose a number for his jersey. Normally, he’d go with 9, though he can’t since it’s Hull’s retired number. He chooses 19 instead, wondering if it’ll take time to get used to a new number, but feeling comfortable, stabilized, by his choice for some reason.

He steps out onto the ice at prospect camp wearing his new number in a brand new jersey. He sees Kane - wearing the number 12 this time - hanging out with another prospect, Skille, and skates up to them, calling out, “Hey Jack! Hey Pat!” with a smile.

Pat looks over at Jonny, and falls flat on his ass.

“Um,” Jonny reaches down to give him a hand up. “You okay?”

Pat ignores his hand, sitting on the ice with his jaw hanging open. Jonny looks at his face and realizes Pat is staring at his jersey.

“You…you…” Pat trails off.

Pat finally notices Jonny’s hand and grabs it, and Jonny helps pull him up.

“You’re wearing 19 now,” Pat states in wonder.

And Jonny gets it. The feeling of rightness is obvious to him then.

He pulls Pat in for a hug, and murmurs in his ear, “We’re soulmates.”

Jonny can feel Pat’s grin where his face is nuzzled against Jonny’s neck.


End file.
